Transcript Census of Marine Life - Rockefeller University

The Census of Marine Life
Jesse H. Ausubel
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
http://www.coml.org
Census of Marine Life
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research program to assess & explain diversity,
distribution, & abundance of marine organisms
an international program involving experts in a
variety of fields around the globe
feasibility studies initiated in 1997 with potential
users, funders, performers: resource managers,
fishers, environmentalists, navies, scientists
to culminate in 2010
can prototype global ocean observing system for
marine life
The Census of Marine Life
Why Now?
Environmental obligations
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UN Convention on Biodiversity
- requires signatories to collect information on
living resources
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Marine Protected Areas
Sustainable Fisheries
Habitat Loss and Pollution
Global Climate Change
The Census of Marine Life
Why Now?
State of current knowledge largely limited to
-- 200 commercially important species
-- Based on catch statistics by fishers
-- Near-shore areas
-- 95% of oceans unexplored biologically
-- NO synchronous surveys of everything
that lives in the water column, i.e., no
“ecosystem” surveys
Census of Marine Life
Why Now - New Technologies
• Technologies
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Active & passive acoustics: “Every fish is a submarine”
Optical sensors
Tags (animals doing surveys themselves)
Vehicles: unmanned, remotely operated
Genetics
• Data Management & Communication
• Satellite communications for real-time observations
from fixed and floating platforms
• Data Analysis
• On-line image libraries, recognition
• Modeling & simulation for population estimates
TOPP Project: To infer what must live in the
ocean from behavior of wide-ranging species
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Tag about 10 species
Total of 5000 animals
Follow for 1-2 years
North Pacific prototype
TOPP Bioprobe Coverage
The Census of Marine Life
Component Programs
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History of Marine Animal Populations
What did live in the oceans?
New Field Projects
What does live in the oceans?
Future of Marine Animal Populations
What will live in the oceans?
• Data assimilation framework
Ocean Biogeographic Information System
Coming Soon…
CoML Field Project Distribution
Chemosynthetic (ChEss) Ecosytems
A-G = Vent; H-K = Seep & Vent; Number = Fauna ID’d
Salmon Monitoring Lines: Fish “EZ Pass”
Ocean Biogeographical Information System
• Vision: Click on maps of the ocean & bring up
data on what has been reported to live there
• Goal: Next generation info infrastructure for
marine biology & living marine resource mgmt
• Technical progress:
• Portal, interoperable databases on growing list of
species groups (fishes, squids, jellies, corals, molluscs,
mammals, turtles, seabirds…); standards & protocols
• Institutional progress:
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) marine
associate (July 2001)
• International Federation established, more than 100
partners in more than 20 countries so far
Census of Marine Life
Education & Outreach
• Outreach to learners of all ages
• Consortium of aquariums (150 million visitors/yr),
natural history museums
• Web sites
• Video, magazines
Census of Marine Life
Institutional arrangements
• International Scientific Steering Committee
• International Secretariat
• Geographically distributed Program HQs
Kyoto, Vancouver, Monterey Bay, New Brunswick
(Canada), Southampton (UK), Bergen (Norway),
Esbjerg (Denmark), Concepcion (Chile)…
• Regional & National Committees:
Western Pacific, S. America, Australia, Canada,
European Union, Southern Africa…
• International group of funding agencies (form in ’02)
Partnerships & Mechanisms
International
Intergovernmental
• Atlantic International Council for Exploration
of the Seas (ICES), Pacific…PICES
• UN: IOC, FAO; World Bank/GEF?
• GBIF
Non-governmental
• ICSU (SCOR, Diversitas, IABO); POGO
• Industries: eg Oil & Gas (IPIECA, OGPA)
• Environmental: Conservation Int’l…
Census of Marine Life
What’s known
What’s unknown
What’s unknowable
An ancient dream, a real possibility
A here-and-now test
for partnerships and mechanisms
for sustainable development